The embodiments described herein relate generally to methods and systems for assembling a wind turbine and, more particularly, to systems and methods for assembling an offshore support system for use with a wind turbine located offshore.
Wind power is quickly becoming a growing energy source around the world. Conventionally, wind turbines are clustered together as wind farms in locations that have favorable wind conditions. However, placement of these wind farms is limited due to a desire to place the wind turbines in remote locations and a need to place the wind turbines in a location with favorable wind conditions to provide increased power output.
At least some known wind turbines are currently being sited at offshore locations. Offshore wind turbines are desirable because they provide additional locations to place wind turbines and they provide favorable wind conditions due to the lack of obstruction for wind currents. At least some known wind turbines include support systems that include support columns extending from a water surface to an anchoring system positioned at a bottom surface of a body of water. As such, the location of known offshore wind turbines is limited to relatively shallow water depths of between about 15 meters (m) to about 20 m. The cost of assembling known offshore support systems in water depths greater than 20 m becomes increasingly expensive due to the increased length of the support system required. Therefore, the location of known wind turbines in offshore locations is limited to relatively shallow depth locations.